Warning

TCI share sale process continues

KukiCel Director William Framhein, has partnered with an overseas telecommunications company is eyeing up shares in Telecom.

The sale of a majority stake in Telecom Cook Islands has yet to be finalised, with the process described as “ongoing”.

Spark New Zealand, formerly known as Telecom New Zealand, has received several bids for its 60 per cent stake in TCI – a state-owned enterprise. The company has confirmed it has received “several” expressions of interest – which are believed to include two locally-led consortiums and another from global telecommunications firm Digicel. Yesterday, Richard Llewellyn, Spark’s Head of Corporate Communications, confirmed the process is ongoing, however the company is “ ... not at liberty to disclose the details...”.Llewellyn said details will be revealed “in due course”.After expressing interest in late 2013, Digicel entered into a conditional agreement to purchase Spark’s 60 per cent stake in TCI for $23 million.Local entities were given a deadline of May 10 to express interest in purchasing the stake, which would then be followed by an assessment process.Two parties have since indicated an interest, including a group led by local businessman Brian Baudinet, and includes TCI’s executive management team, and a foreign company called Bluesky, which operates telecommunication and multimedia companies in American Samoa and Samoa.Also eyeing interest in the shares is a consortium led by KukiCel Director William Framhein, who has partnered with an overseas telecommunications company.According to a financial report recently released by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Management, the government collected $1.15 million in dividends paid out by Telecom Cook Islands during the 2013-14 financial year.- Emmanuel Samoglou